Senate Democrats’ Endorsement Praises Yellen’s Record

Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, listens at a macro policy discussion during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

In the letter dated Thursday (see the text of the letter), lawmakers called Ms. Yellen “the best person” to replace the Fed’s current chief, Ben Bernanke, whose second four-year term as chairman ends in January. Senate Democrats’ show of support for Ms. Yellen could give the longtime Fed official a boost over Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary considered her chief rival for the Fed post.

The letter also singled out Ms. Yellen’s attention to the high rate of unemployment as the central bank monitors its level of support to the economy. The Fed has a dual mandate to pursue both stable prices and seek maximum stable employment. “The next chairman must also recognize that the unemployment numbers that come across her desk are, in Governor Yellen’s words, ‘not just statistics,’” the letter said. Some Republican lawmakers have urged the Fed to focus just on controlling inflation.

Ms. Yellen would ascend to the central bank’s top post with “a solid record as a bank regulator” and “significant monetary policy experience,” the letter said. That could lend the Fed continuity at a time when the central bank is weighing how long to maintain its $85 billion per-month bond-buying program, the lawmakers said.

“The substantial size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, combined with the delicate state of the recovery, makes Governor Yellen’s familiarity with the Fed process and communications skills that much more important,” the letter stated.

The exact level of support for Ms. Yellen wasn’t clear Friday, but Senate aides estimated roughly one-third of the 54 Democrats and allies in the caucus had signed the letter, including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Angus King, an independent from Maine.

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